Has Russia Been Consecrated to the ?

Consecration of Russia

In recent years the faithful have asked me to address the question of whether or not the consecration of Russia requested by Mary has been done. In response, I begin by recalling the 3rd apparition of Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917, in which Mary showed the three shepherd children the vision of hell and revealed:

“You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; if people do not cease

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Consecration of Russia offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world”.

In the last apparition of Fatima of June 13, 1929, Lucia relates:

“Our Lady then said to me: „The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. There are so many souls whom the Justice of God condemns for sins committed against Me, that I have come to ask reparation: sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray.‟”

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Consecration of Russia

Let us now review the papal consecrations of Russia and of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In March 1937 and in 1938 respectively Bishop De Silva Leiria and the Portuguese episcopate ask Pius XI for the Consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart. No consecration is made.

In December 1940 Sr. Lucia writes a letter to Pope Pius XII affirming that Our Lord himself requests the Pope to “consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with a special mention for Russia, and order that all the Bishops of the world do the same in union with Your Holiness.”

1) On October 31, 1942 Pope Pius XII consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart.

2) On July 7, 1952 Pope Pius XII consecrates the Russian people to the Immaculate Heart through his apostolic letter , in which he affirms: “Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart.”

3) On November 21, 1964 Pope Paul VI renews, in the presence of the Fathers of the Vatican Council but without their participation, the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart.

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Consecration of Russia

4) On May 13, 1982 Pope John Paul II invites the bishops of the world to join him in consecrating the world and with it Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Many do not receive the invitation in time for the Pope's trip to Fatima, where he accomplishes the consecration, but Sr. Lucia later says it did not fulfill the conditions.

5) October 1983 Pope John Paul II, at the Synod of Bishops, renews the 1982 Consecration.

6) On March 25, 1984 Pope John Paul II, “united with all the pastors of the Church in a particular bond whereby we constitute a body and a college,” consecrates “the whole world, especially the peoples for which by reason of their situation you have particular love and solicitude.” Both the Pope and Sr. Lucia initially seemed uncertain that the consecration had been fulfilled, but shortly thereafter Sr. Lucia tells the papal nuncio to Portugal that the Consecration is fulfilled.

In light of the preceding, Sr. Lucia would pen two monumental letters with her own hand in answer to the question pertaining to the validity of the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In two handwritten letters of August 29, 1989 and of July 3, 1990 Sr. Lucia affirms that the Russian consecration requested by Our Lady “was made” (see two letters reported below).

Let us now review from a practical angle the validity of the consecration of Russia to Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Let us recall on June 13, 1929 that Mary

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Consecration of Russia stated, “The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me and Russia shall be converted. Some have questioned if Mary’s deliberate use of the future tense here qualifies as a prophecy of the 1984 consecration that Lucia said “was made as Our Lady requested”. While past Pontiffs had consecrated “the people of Russia” and “the world” to Mary, others have contested that consecrating “the people of Russia without the episcopal college” and “the world with the episcopal college” does not count for consecrating “specifically Russia in union with the episcopal college”. To get beyond this impasse, a brief review of the importance of methodology is in order.

In all accredited disciplines there is no reliability of a given source without a method of research. Methodology distinguishes primary from secondary sources with the aim of ensuring reliability of a given source. A primary source (e.g., Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta re. the Fatima messages) provides direct or firsthand recount of an event or person. On the other hand, a secondary source describes, discusses, interprets, comments upon and analyzes the primary source (e.g., all those who comment on the Fatima message). This is a pivotal distinction as it exposes to the reader the disparity of authority enjoyed by a primary and secondary source – the first-hand witness is the primary source who enjoys a greater authority re. the event witnessed than the secondary source.

In the case of the Fatima message Lucia remains the primary source. Human reason would have one first look to the primary source for the answer to the question on

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Consecration of Russia whether or not Russia was consecrated according to Our Lady’s request. Here is Lucia’s response contained in her letters of August 29, 1989 and July 3, 1990 that she herself composed:

Letters of Sr. Lucia Santos, OCD on the Consecration

Letter 1: To Sr. Mary of Bethlehem

J.+ M. Pax Christi

Dear Sister Mary of Bethlehem:

Received your letter and, although I have very little time at my disposal I will answer your question which is: Is the Consecration of the world, according to the request of Our Lady, made? On Oct. 31, 1942, His Holiness Pius XII made the Consecration. I was asked if it was made as Our Lady requested. I answered "NO," because it was not made in union with all the bishops of the world. Later, on May 13, 1967, His Holiness Paul VI made the Consecration. I was asked if it was made as Our Lady requested. I responded "NO," for the same reason, it was not made in union with all the bishops of the world. On May 13, 1982, His Holiness John Paul II made the Consecration. I was asked if it was made. I responded "NO." It was not made in union with all the bishops of the world.

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Consecration of Russia

Then this same Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II wrote to all the bishops of the world asking them to unite with him. He sent for the statute of Our Lady of Fátima -- the one from the little Chapel to be taken to Rome and on March 25, 1984 - publicly - with the bishops who wanted to unite with His Holiness, made the Consecration as Our Lady requested. They then asked me if it was made as Our Lady requested, and I said, "YES." Now it was made.

Why this urgency of God that this Consecration should be made in union with all the bishops of the world? Because this Consecration is a call for unity of all Christians - The Mystical Body of Christ - whose head is the Pope, the one, true representative of Christ on earth to whom the Lord confided the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and on this union depends the faith in the world and the charity which is the bond that must unite all of us in Christ, as that which He wants, and as He asked the Father: "As You, O Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. . . I in them, and You in Me; that they be made perfect in one, and the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me" (John 17:21-23).

As we see of the union depends the faith and the charity that must be the bond of our union in Christ, whose true representative on earth is the Pope.

A hug to your mother and my greetings to the rest of the family in union with prayers.

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Consecration of Russia

Coimbra, August 29,1989 Sr. Lucia Letter 2: To Rev. Father Robert J. Fox

J.+ M. Pax Christi

Rev . do Sr. P. Robert J. Fox,

Recebi a sua carta e venho responder á sua pergunta: "Se a Consagração feita por João Paulo II, em 25 de Março de 1984, em união com todos os Bispos do mundo, cumpriu as codições para a coversão da Russia, segundo o pedido de Nossa Senhora em Tuy a 13 de Junho de 1929."? Sim, cumpriu, e desde aí, eu tenho dito que está feita.

E digo que não é nenhuma outra pessoa que responde por mim, sou eu quem recebe a correspondência, abre as cartas e responde. Em união de orações

Coimbra, 3-VII-l99O Irmã Lúcia (signature)

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Consecration of Russia

Translation of Letter 2:

J.+ M. The Peace of Christ Rev. Father Robert J. Fox,

I come to answer your question, "If the consecration made by Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1984 in union with all the bishops of the world, accomplished the conditions for the consecration of Russia according to the request of Our Lady in Tuy on June 13 of 1929?" Yes, it was accomplished, and since then I have said that it was made.

And I say that no other person responds for me, it is I who receive and open all letters and respond to them.

Coimbra, July 3, 1990 Sister Lucia

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Consecration of Russia

Notwithstanding this first-hand testimony and primary source of the Fatima messages, there is the contention among some that neither the 1989 nor the 1900 letters attributed to Sr. Lucia, respectively at the age of 82 and 83, may be found in their hand-written form.

Happily, such concerns are satisfactorily addressed in the publication of Sr. Lucia’s Religious Superior Sister Maria Celina de Jesus Crucificado, entitled, “Our Memories of Sister Lucia,”1 in which she affirms,

“She [Sr. Lucia] was offered an electronic typewriter when she was already over seventy years of age [approx. 1986], and had no difficulty in learning how to use it. It is a computerized machine which, however, was never connected to the internet. Contrary to what has been stated, Sister Lucia never worked with a computer, and never visited a „site.‟ She was very interested, asked questions, but ended saying, „My machine is better than this!‟”

Noteworthy is the age of Sr. Lucia when she receive this typewriter, i.e., not over 80 years of age, but over 79 years of age, which was three-four years before Sr. Lucia’s 1989 and 1990 letters affirming that the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart was made and accepted by Mary. Therefore, the reason the 1989 and 1990 letters of Sr. Lucia do not appear in their hand-written form is quite

1 Our Memories of Sister Lucia, Sr. Maria Celina de Jesus Crucificado, OCD, Carmel of Coimbra, Secretariado dos Pastorinhos Pub., 2nd edition, 2007.

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Consecration of Russia simply because she had typed them with her typewriter and signed them with her own pen. Below is a photo the 1990 typed and signed letter in which Sr. Lucia affirms, “the consecration made by Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1984 in union with all the bishops of the world, accomplished the conditions for the consecration of Russia according to the request of Our Lady in Tuy on June 13 of 1929.”2

2 This letter may also be found on the website: https://www.fatimafamily.org/

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Consecration of Russia

Another, less authoritative concern, stems from those individuals who are fond of quoting “out of context” the words of my mentor Fr. Gabriele Amorth, with whom I performed numerous exorcisms in Rome. Fr. Amorth is reported to have stated that the 1984 consecration of Russia to Mary has not been done. What these individuals fail to acknowledge is that simple and sobering truth that Fr. Amorth, immersed full-time in daily exorcisms, had no time to follow closely the developments of the Fatima consecration since 1984, nor had he been aware of the authenticity of the 1989 and 1990 letters of Sr. Lucia – the

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Consecration of Russia first-hand testimony and primary source of the Fatima messages – confirming that the consecration was indeed done.

From a more practical angle, let us now examine the “fruits” of the March 25, 1984 consecration that Lucia affirmed was “made as Our Lady‟s requested” and “was accomplished” to see if they are good fruits, for Jesus himself revealed, “Every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit… So by their fruits you will know them” (Mt. 7.17-21).

Subsequent to the March 25, 1984 consecration the following events occurred:

On May 13, 1984 one of the largest crowds in Fatima history gathers at the shrine to pray the for peace. On May 13, 1984 an explosion at the Soviets’ Severomorsk Naval Base destroys two-thirds of all the missiles stockpiled for the Soviets’ Northern Fleet. The blast also destroys workshops needed to maintain the missiles as well as hundreds of scientists and technicians. Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy has suffered since WWII.

In December 1984 the Soviet Defense Minister, mastermind of the invasion plans for Western Europe, suddenly and mysteriously dies.

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Consecration of Russia

On March 10, 1985 the Soviet Union leader and communist party member Chairman Konstantin Chernenko dies.

On March 11, 1985 the Soviet Chairman Mikhail Gorbachev is elected.

On April 26, 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident occurs that potentially staves off a nuclear strike during the cold war era.

On April 26, 1987 the 1st Anniversary of Chernobyl, the Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared to a 12-year old girl Maria Kizyn and later to thousands of adults at the Chapel of the Blessed Trinity in a small Ukrainian village of Hrushiv 530 kilometers southwest of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The August 1987 article in Literaturnaya Gazeta affirmed that more than 100,000 people converged on the village in the first month and, despite the Soviet authorities having locked up the Chapel where the vision occurred, the paper revealed that 40,000 to 45,000 faithful visit the site daily.

On May 12, 1988 an explosion wrecked the only factory that made the rocket motors for the Soviets’ deadly SS 24 long-range missiles, which carry ten nuclear bombs each.

On August 29, 1989 concerning the consecration of Russia Sr. Lucia writes, “They then asked me if it was made as Our Lady requested, and I said, „YES.‟ Now it was made”.

On November 9, 1989 the Fall of the Berlin Wall occurs, and Christian freedom and public worship is permitted throughout all of Eastern Europe for the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

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Consecration of Russia

Nov.-Dec. 1989 Peaceful revolutions in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania 1990 East and West Germany are unified.

On July 3, 1990 Sr. Lucia affirms in correspondence that the consecration "has been accomplished".

On December 25, 1991 there occurs the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Given the foregoing, and in light of my many travels to all continents of the globe that include Russia and Ukraine (where I preached on several occasions), I invite you to reflect on the spiritual and moral status quo of the Western and Eastern Church and make up your mind on whether or not Russia has been converted.

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Consecration of Russia

In the Western world:

- In Western Europe at least 28 cathedrals were sold (and are still being sold) to become casinos, hotels, cafeterias, and mountain resorts for alpinists.

- The churches are getting emptier by the year and many Christians have apostatized. Many priests too are failing Jesus, and monasteries and convents are emptying.

- Governments are extinguishing the little light left of Christianity in public schools and in public places, and prohibit the catechism in schools under the pretext that there are other religions in the classroom which they will offend.

- The western world leaders have openly supported the “new-world order”.

- The European Union allows gay marriages even in Churches, and much more immorality has spread in the Western world losing all the human and spiritual values previous generations had labored to establish. In 2015 the US Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal.

- Abortions are in demand and enforced by law in the western world. In the USA abortion has become a federal law that seeks to enforce itself upon all Christian hospitals and institutions, thereby forcing them concede or close.

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Consecration of Russia

However in Russia:

- In Russia hundreds of new Churches are being built out of necessity, and the ones now in use are more than full with believers.

- The Russian Churches are filled with the faithful to the brim, and the monasteries and convents are packed with new novices.

- The Government in Russia does not deny Christ, but speaks openly and encourages schools to keep their Christianity, and teach pupils their catechism.

- The Government together with the Church declared openly that they will not be part of the European Union, because the EU has lost its moral values and their Christianity, as they themselves had in the past under the Soviet Union; they left their faith and denied Christ. This time they declared “no one will tear us away from our faith and we will defend our faith until death.”

- The Russia government has openly denounced the “new- world order”.

- Russia declared that agenda-promoting gays are not welcomed and not allowed to make processions, let alone enter into gay marriages. Russia declared that any foreigner who wants to live in Russia will be asked: 1) to learn Russian, 2) to become a Christian and follow their traditions. If not, they are not welcomed (Note bene: While Russia is predominantly Orthodox Christian – they have all 7 Sacraments which Rome acknowledges as valid – they

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Consecration of Russia allow other Christians to openly express and practice their faith; there are in Moscow several Catholic and Anglican Churches).

- In 2015 The Minister of Health in Russia Veronika Skvortsova and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill signed an agreement that abolishes abortion and includes palliative care throughout all of Russia. In sum, no abortions are permitted in Russia.

Who of the two needs to be converted?

+ Rev. Joseph L. Iannuzzi, STL, STD

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